kismetique

Sorry, I hit send before I put the other poems in! Here's the Concierge thank you that went in Envelope 2 of 2: To our dear concierge, we have to say Your service and care made our trip, day by day From the warmest of greetings to the tiniest detail You made us feel special, and never once did you fail We've come to the end of our cruise, it's true And we wanted to say, we appreciate you For all the hard work, the effort, the time You put in, to make our trip, oh so fine So we're leaving an additional tip, you see To reflect the gratitude, we feel, so deeply As a family of eight, we understand the effort you make And we want to ensure, that your kindness, we don't mistake Your smile, your warmth, and your hospitality Will always have a place in our memory We hope that our gesture, brings a smile to your face And makes you feel appreciated, in every place So thank you, dear concierge, for all that you do We wish you all the best, in everything, that's true Your services exceeded our every expectation Making our cruise unforgettable, a true vacation! Here's the butler's poem and since he didn't speak very good English, our cabin was decorated to the hilt with birthday balloons, streamers, party favors and a cake on the table when we returned from dinner the first night. Which was not exactly what I had in mind as I wanted celebrate on our 1 sea day. But that's my fault for not making it clear. I just assumed he would ask before doing it. He kept saying, but Mrs...you said birthday! You said birthday! I kept telling him, it's fine, really it's not a problem. I think he could tell it wasn't what I wanted but we were perfectly fine to have cake and kept the room decorated the entire cruise so it worked out really well in the end. Envelope 1 of 2 poem: On embarkation day, as we board this grand ship, We come with excitement and our hearts-a-flip, And in this first envelope, we’ve left a tip for you, To express our gratitude, for all that you do. On this grand cruise, a special occasion we share, Three birthdays, three loved ones, a joyous affair, As we journey on, seeking adventure and fun, We turn to the butler, to help us get things done. We are celebrating three birthdays, all in one, A group of eight, filled with laughter and fun, There’s just one special request, we hope to make, A birthday bash, for the ages, a true give and take. Dear butler, we have a request to make, Please serve us a birthday meal in our stateroom suite, A meal so decadent to share and savor, what a treat! And for dessert, a group dessert we’ll all partake. We want to indulge in the delicious fare, That Cagney’s has to offer, with great flair! Start with a fresh salad, crisp and bright, Followed by a soup, creamy and light, Bring us the tenderest cuts of meat, That will melt in our mouths, oh so sweet. Accompanied by sides that are divine, The perfect compliment to this feast so fine. With your help, we'll make memories to last, Of laghter, love and good times that won't be surpassed, And when we look back on this grand adventure, We'll think of you, butler, with infinite pleasure! And the envelope 2 of 2 Thank you to butler: Dear butler, we want to take a moment to express Our heartfelt thanks, for you are the best! You served us with grace, with skill, with care And made our birthday celebration an occasion so rare You tended to our needs with a smile so bright And made our every wish come to light From morning coffee to evening desserts galore You served us with kindness, even when we asked for more For our birthday celebration, you brought us joy With cakes and decorations, fit for a royal envoy You made us feel special, cherished and loved And for that, dear butler, we thank you from above Your attention to detail was impeccable and fine And your service, dear butler, was nothing less than divine So let us raise a glass and give you a toast For making our cruise a dream we'll cherish the most So we'd like to thank you with a little gift Enclosed in this envelope, a tip for you to lift We know that your job is not an easy one But you did it with grace, and made it so much fun Oh dear, dear butler, we'll miss you so For you've become a friend, not just a service pro But in our hearts, you'll forever stay As the butler who made our cruise a special day.

I didn't write them, I had ChatGPT give me loads and loads of suggestions then I took what worked and pieced it together. I'll tell you the one to the Concierge worked like a charm! We got 8 tender tickets delivered to our suite the next day! It's a little corny, but hey - I got what I wanted with very little effort on my part. We were celebrating 3 birthdays, within days of each other. I put birthday banners on all the room doors. On this grand cruise, we're celebrating with cheer Three birthdays, a triple treat, oh so dear As we set sail, seeking adventure and more We turn to the concierge, to help us explore For a group of eight, celebrating three birthdays in style We have one big wish, that we hope will make them smile. Our wish is simple, but we need your helping hand To make our shore excursions go exactly as planned. Our big wish is for eight tender tickets ashore To explore in port and make memories galore With your magic touch, we know it's all possible To make this wish come true and make it remarkable. Brother, sister and wife, all in one Together we'll celebrate, under the sun With eight tender tickets, our hearts will sing, And we'll cherish these memories with everything. We understand that not all wishes can come true But we hold onto hope, and we turn to you To make this celebration, beyond compare And leave us feeling pampered, and full of care. So here's a little something, to start our journey off right And to let you know, that our appreciation is bright And there's more to come, from this family of eight As we set sail, we understand the efforts you make.

Our family of 6 just did this exact same set up. You could always pay for Priority Access for the 2 in the club balcony. BTW the set up is perfect! We as parents, left the door open between the rooms and our married child could close the door in the club balcony when they wanted privacy but always had access to the living area which was not used as a sleeping space. We had another friend and his child with us, so once we were up for the day, we left our cabin door open so they could also come and go as they pleased. It was a great way for the steward, butler and concierge to easily access us more often! More familiarity equals more service and perks. We always greeted them with a smile and were welcoming of any small talk. It was great! If I had thought of paying for Priority Access I would have. I don't particularly think of eating lunch in Carney's as a perk. The food is not that great and the menu NEVER changes. We never ate in there. We did have breakfast delivered each morning and whomever said they won't limit you... it's quite subjective. If I ordered too much more than what appeared appropriate for the 3 in our suite, it simply wasn't included in the delivery, twice it happened. My husband is a huge breakfast eater and I discussed this with our butler and the Order was never shorted again. The rest of the family and friend actually preferred the buffet, so that wasn't a big deal for us. Here's where I wanted the perks.... Tendering and snacks. I gave both the butler and concierge an envelope marked 1 of 2 with a tip inside and a poem written using AI about my specific requests. Both knew there would be more tip coming at the end and we got both Priority Tendering and extra treats and candy for the whole party. Money talks.

And from experience, don't take their first word for it, if they say there are no cabins available. If you can do a mock reservation for the cabin or cabin level you want and show availability, tell them you can see cabins available! They might want to charge you a little more for the correct upgrade levels. On one of mine, I paid $40 and on the second, I paid $60.

I also learned a lesson last night in redeeming points. I called and got ahold of someone that did not know what they were doing. I know, I know, I know...I should have just said nvm and hung up and called back. But she was so very nice and seemed to be trying so hard. This was my only second time to redeem points so I stuck it out with her. BIG MISTAKE. She took my points asked me which cabin I wanted and promptly rebooked me into an O4, as I was already in! No upgrade. When I pulled up the confirmation I realized that line in the invoice for the amount "saved" was missing. The confirmation showed 04 - BA, with the cabin we discussed, and I didn't realize until I called NCL, but the cabin number online was 10014, which is an Oceanview, not a balcony. In the meantime, I had decided I wanted to change the cabin we had discussed and so I called NCL and told them the price had dropped, and I wanted to change my cabin. We went round and round and she kept putting me on hold and coming back after 10 solid minutes and acting like she was a new CSR, only her accent gave her away. I let her get away with it the first time, then the second, third and fourth times, I laughed at her and said - how many times do you plan to pretend to be someone new? Dead silence. She ended up taking away all mentions of an upgrade and sticking me in a guarantee balcony, charging me full price! I called Points Rewards back this morning and they got it all straightened out with the price drop as well. But the invoice STILL doesn't show the "saved" line. Everything else is correct and the cabin is showing correct online, so I'm guessing it all worked out. Let this be a lesson to the first timers - don't be afraid to hang up and call back, just because they are being nice, it will likely get screwed up! 🙂

Thank you both for the information! Wow. My mom was a casino nut, I'm angry that she never shared this idea with me! 🙂

Gosh - I'm feel like a newbie. I had no idea this was even possible. So, does the ship then give you cash back at the end of the cruise after your folio is paid? For a non-gambler, can you explain the process? Sorry to be so dumb.

Oh - I see...my mistake. We don't gamble so I wasn't aware you could make a casino charge! Interesting.

Wouldn't taking cash on the NCL BoA card be considered a cash advance and begin incurring interest immediately? When I read this it sent red flags up immediately - only because I constantly have to stay on top of hubby when on vacation which card to use for what. He's so used to using our credit cards for taxi's, meals, etc. He tends to want to stick the same CC in the bank machine to get cash and I'm always like, NO NO NO NO! That will incur immediate AND a higher rate of interest than purchases. I much prefer to get cash on my debit card while on board the ship and pay the 3% because I trust it so much more than machines in any town. Here's what I found generically : Most cards do not offer a grace period for cash advances. You will begin paying interest from the first day the cash advance posts to your credit card. For most credit cards, the cash advance APR is significantly higher than the APR for purchases. Cash advance interest rates typically range from 17.99% to 29.99% APR. Norwegian Cruise Line Credit Card's Additional Info cash advance fee 5% cash advance APR 21.24% - 29.24% (V) I love the way you think and wished this were a workable way to get those points! But I'm thinking not. How about if you pre-paid charges on board, would they give you the cash back at the end of the cruise? We never spend anything other than our gratuities, so if we prepaid them before the cruise and then put money on account somehow? I'm not sure if it's possible as I've never thought to do it because we never spend a dime. Needless to say, we aren't the cruisers NCL likes to give bargains to! 🙂

I don't know but i suffer from it. If I can do it on line, I'm going to do that over a phone call. I think it has to do more with getting CSRs that don't soak good English and having a slight hearing deficit. Those two issues make for excruciating phone convos!!! 😊

I called to ask several questions before I actually did the upgrade and then inquired about just doing it online rather than calling back and the gentlemen said, NO!! Don't book online, always call us, less chance it goes bad! I've only ever done this once, so I have no real experience, but he tickled me with his emphatic NO!

When I recently did my 4 upgrades, I asked specifically, if while booking my 4 b2b's if something didn't work with the chained cruises and I needed to cancel would I get my points refunded, both people I talked to said absolutely, no problem. Just my experience.

Yup... on my last cruise, they gave us OBC for a missed port. I've always been able to have it applied to gratuities, so the night before when I got my bill and they hadn't offset the amounts, I went and asked and was told, no more. We hadn't spent a penny on the ship so I had to go to the shops and spend $250 on crap I had no room in my bags to carry around on the rest of my trip. Either that or leave money on the table, and that wasn't happening!!!! If I had known, I'd have eaten better!!!

I would agree. This is a 4 leg b2b for us. The first leg I found a comparable Cruse on Princess. I was able to book an upgraded mini suite on Princess for what the inside was going to cost me on NCL. Making it very easy for me to cheat on NCL. Now I'm looking at an a Asain cruise on Princess where again, even the upgraded mini suite is the cost of the NCL inside. I think NCL is pricing themselves out of my range and with their food quality taking a hit lately, moving to Princess is looking better and better. I will miss my loyalty perks...I so wished Princess would loyalty match. We like to book the 2 bedroom suite with the connecting club balcony for the entire family and the newer NCL ships have phased that cabin set up out, so I have to look for Cruises on their older ships. 2 upgraded mini suites on the Princess will work perfect for us.

First time doing upgrades and I did 3. I lacked 6,000 points having enough to do 3 inside to balcony, so I did 2 inside to balcony and 1 ov to balcony. Afterwards, wondering if Inside to Balcony is worth it, or if it's more cost effective to go OV to Balcony and save the 30k points for the next cruise. Anyway, thought it might help other first timers. As a first timer here's how it went for me. I called NCL and booked the 3 cruises so I could buy cruise first certs as I booked, as I had used all I purchased from my last cruise and my next one isn't till May and the cabins were looking sparse, so I didn't want to wait. I asked for $500 certs, but only got 2 and the 3rd one at $250.🤔 I called the world points line and got a lady that was less than helpful, unfortunately. But, I guess it all worked out as I knew what to say and ask from reading this board. I had to upgrade two of the cruises in order to chose my balcony and I was worried since ncl.com showed only guarantees left for balconies, that didn't appear to actually be the case, perhaps because we are over a year out, but on cruise number 2, I seemingly got the last balcony available on the preferred Deck 9. I ASKED how much I had to pay to chose my cabin, otherwise she would have not offered. $80 for the first, nothing for the second and $60 for the last. I thought that was pretty good. So I got to pick my cabin on all 3 cruises. Also, we didn't opt to book any of NCLs air. We like to fly premium economy and it's just easier and cheaper to book with points. I saved $4800 on the first cruise going IB to BB, I saved $4700 on the second cruise going from OB to BB, I saved $4800 on the third cruise going from IF to BA So an overall savings of $14,300 I'm quite impressed! I was thinking of giving up on my NCL card, because we usually sail in suites, but for that savings, I think I can do without a butler and concierge! I decided to cheat on NCL and booked the first leg of this 4 b2b on Princess. We've never sailed Princess, but the price was unbeatable when compared to the same to/from itinerary on NCL. We don't drink enough to pay for the package, so we skip it. Princess has more add on's than NCL and they are more costly! I booked an upgraded mini-suite on the Princess for what the inside was going to cost on NCL - same itenerary,1 day difference, so I'll have a hotel room for that one off night, booked with hotel points hopefully. So the savings is closer to $18K when considering how much I saved on the first leg combined with the above savings. Question#1 - I've purchased enough to bring my total points to 30,000 on my next BoA billing cycle. Can I call and drop back down to an inside booking for my second cruise to save more money? Even if I had to cancel and rebook, it might be worth it - I'm not sure - my brain is fried from trying to keep 4 cruises straight and calculating inside/outside/balcony rates! I think I'll stick it all in a spreadsheet and see (not sure why I didn't do that to begin with!) I'm working hard to see how cheaply and how long I can sail before having to fly home. 😊 Question #2 - does anyone know if Princess does status matching or if it's even worth it to ask? We're only Platinum on NCL. Thanks for the help from the board!

It seems to be the "new sailing full" price. 🙂

Knowing that the aft is out of the question, is there any upside to waiting till on my Cruse in May to book these 4 cruises? What is the lowest inside and lowest OV I can book and still get to pick my balcony cabin? Thanks!

I've been reading and trying to figure these cross meta and meta upgrades out. I've never done this type of upgrade. We usually just book the suite we want and be done with it. I'm planning a B2B2B2B cruise and I understand each segment needs to be upgraded on it's own, that's not a problem. I have 176,000 points. I have a couple of scenarios to ask about. If I book an O4, can I use 30,000 points to upgrade to a B4, then use another 10,000 to go up 2 categories to the Aft Balcony? If that would work I'd have enough points to do that on all 4 segments. If that is not permissible, I'm sailing in May this year. We're in the Garden Villa - does that pull any weight when booking 4 cruises on the ship? My problem is - even through these 4 cruises are over a year out - one of them shows to only have 1 aft balcony left. Can I book the actual cabins I want in order to secure the aft balcony then re-book when I'm on the ship to get the 1 category upgrade to help me secure the aft balcony? Or is there absolutely no way to get into an aft with points, other than by fluke when they do allow it? 😊 If I have this strategy all wrong - can someone help me? I like to map things all out on paper before I make the calls to make the reservations. Thanks for any help, suggestions, or ideas!

Agreed! A full e-visa was going to be $261 each!

Thank you so much for the info. I have applied for the transit visa, but was never asked about insurance. I'm about to decide they are not longer requiring this of US passengers, as our Canadians and UK passengers said they still had to purchase insurance. The cost of the transit visa was $10.50 but it has sat with the same status now for over a month. I emailed them and asked them to check on it and while they responded with a non-answer of sorts, the next day the status of my visa changed from Send to Embassy to Send to Representative. I'm not sure if that is really any different, but at least something changed. NCL has now changed the wording on our embarkation document that we just need to have applied before we sail if we plan to get off the ship. If I have my visa, I'll get off and do a uturn and get right back on the ship. Saudi should not be rewarded for such a cluster of a mess on getting visa's. Everyone was panicked thinking we would be denied boarding if we didn't have it, but seemingly couldn't get it. Again, thank you for your insight!

NCL has a cruise leaving November 24 going to Saudi. We're having a huge discussion on our roll call about the requirements of a Saudi Visa. NCL is NOW, less than 30 days before sailing, telling us that we need a Saudi Visa to even be allowed to board the ship. Did you have to have a Saudi Visa and if so, can you please tell me how you applied and how much you paid for it and how quickly you received it? Some of us have applied a month ago and have heard nothing from them. Thank you ever so much for any information and help you can send my way! Kismetique

As long as the Dawn goes - we will be on it. We've always understood the pitfalls of traveling abroad and while this time the danger is ramped up a bit, we're excited and we are going! If we make it home, just think of the stories to tell and if we don't, just think of the stories our children will have to tell! I bought an international health insurance policy when we booked this trip with a healthy sum to repatriate our bodies should the need arise. My son, emailed me and thanked me for thinking ahead! 🤔🤣

Yes, they were stingy, but we just kept going back and asking for more because the food was so much better than the buffet! We were still pretty new at cruising at that point, and with no specialty restaurants, if you didn't like your table mates in the MDR, the buffet was the only alternative. Speaking of table mates... Sounds like you had interesting ones! Sometimes you have to wonder if it wasn't all a rouse. Like an inside joke between the two of them to spin such a story. Likely she was on the level, but I could see my son pulling such a stunt. He absolutely loves to mess with people he's forced to spend time with. Telling them the most outlandish stories, and the problem is, he's so good at it, they believe every word! I would have been uncomfortable with her story and like... What do you say to someone like that? I'm sure you tried to change the subject or stear the conversation in a different direction, but given that the story was told in the first place, I would imagine she couldn't be deterred!!🤣 I read your post to my husband and he got a belly laugh from it! He said, I would have ran too!

I didn't realized the Sun was still in service. We did a 12 day on her to South America and loved loved loved that ship! Of course, that was back before specialty dining. I think they were just starting to experiment with dining options and they had this little Bistro set up on the back of the ship, tucked away by the buffet dining area. They didn't advertise it, but once we stumbled upon it, we kept going there for dinner each night. It was like ordering Tapa's. They wouldn't give you very much at at time, so you had to keep going back and ask for another serving....but no one knew it was there and we were usually the only ones! It was magical and free of course! Our concierge on the Jewel was fabulous. The butler seemed somewhat new and not comfortable with his duties yet. I had to keep asking for lemonade and tea each day for the room. I told him on day one, that's all my husband drinks and to please provide a pitcher of each, each day. We were also celebrating 4 birthdays and I told him I would like to have a cake one evening after we had our meal in Cagney's - but I didn't tell him what night - I told him I would let him know. We got back to the room after the Azura dining disaster to find our room decorated with balloons and streamers and a birthday cake! We didn't eat it because of the dining snafu and the next day he kept saying, but Madame - you said, you said. I told him it was fine, we would eat it eventually, not to worry. He fretted over the cake until we finally just threw it away so he would stop worrying. I'm looking forward to this same cabin on the Dawn. That bathroom is to die for and I'm seeing the newer ships don't have that configuration for that type of suite. I may just have to stick to the older ships ...or switch lines.

I'm not sure what the $20 for each meal was! I was simply appalled! This was a Mexican Riviera cruise on NCL Jewel in April of 2023. It was in the Azura MDR. The hostess was tacky and standoffish and the wait staff were completely indifferent to us. It was the first night of the cruise and I was dreading the rest of the meals under these conditions. It shouldn't matter, but my son gave his room key to check us in, he was in a club balcony next door to my 2 bedroom suite. We hadn't cruised in over 10 years so I didn't really even understand what the Haven was all about. It's my understanding now, that the Jewel doesn't really have a Haven proper, but yes, I had purchased 3 cabins for this cruise, a 2 bedroom suite with balcony and 2 club balconies next door. I tipped the concierge very well up front so that all 3 rooms could have SOME of my suite perks (priority tender, reserved show seating, etc)... Of course, they couldn't go with us to Cagney's and I never even asked for that. So we didn't any of us partake of that perk. I did have room service breakfast each morning, but the butler would only bring enough for the 3 staying in our room, which was irritating that he got to decide what was enough for each of us, as I was not ordering for the rest, they all loved the breakfast buffet! My husband is a huge breakfast eater and will usually skip lunch and just have dinner. I usually had to share my breakfast with him because our butler was stingy! 🤣 His second 'end of cruise' tip envelope reflected my displeasure too! Here's the funny thing. At first, I thought the bar tenders were being nice to an old lady not charging me for my Cokes!!!! I kept telling my husband, I'm going to the bar alone to get the Coke so they don't charge me! Hahaha. I finally realized, it was the color of my key card and I could have asked the butler to bring me some Cokes for the room! I prefer to think they were just being nice to me! 😁 The last time we cruised years ago, your Latitudes tier level was the big deal. We could book an inside and still get perks because we were Platinum level, which apparently means almost nothing now. We used to have ALL KINDS of little goodies in our room upon arrival. NCL Pins, tons of snacks, nice selection of drinks, coupons, invitations, etc. I think we had a warm bottle of Champaign in the room upon arrival in April, and that's it. Cruising has changed drastically since we last cruised! Some for the better and some for the worse. Being retired, I have more money for cruising these days and I'm sorta wishing my cruise line of choice had not been NCL all those years. We are on a 19 day Middle East Cruise in November on the Dawn, in the same type cabin just for the 2 of us this time (that bathroom is to die for!!!) and I better get everything I order for breakfast this time!! 😁 So, no Haven proper, but I do plan to maximize my suite perks to the absolute MAX! Now that I know what it's all about!